Report: N.H. Hospitals Reducing Errors, Re-Admissions

A new federal report says New Hampshire hospitals are making progress in reducing both errors and unnecessary re-admissions.

The federal Department of Health and Human Services released a report this month estimating that the 3,700 hospitals participating in the Partnership for Patients program prevented 1.3 million patient harms and re-admissions and saved more than $12 billion in health spending around the country.

The New Hampshire Hospital Association says some of New Hampshire's biggest gains came in fewer patients experiencing pressure ulcers, fewer injuries from falls, fewer adverse drug events and fewer post-surgery infections. From 2011 through June of this year, New Hampshire hospitals prevented 700 patients from experiencing harm and saw 4,300 fewer readmissions compared to before the initiative began.

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Three New Hampshire hospitals will be penalized next year for potentially avoidable mistakes, such as patient infections and injuries.

The federal government claims Dartmouth-Hitchcock in Lebanon and Eliot Hospital and Catholic Medical Center in Manchester should have done more to protect people from a list of "hospital-acquired conditions" in 2013. Those conditions include falls, bed sores, and infections from catheters.

As a result, in the fiscal year starting next October, the feds will penalize those three hospitals one percent of their Medicare payments.

Monday marks a key deadline in the enrollment period for New Hampshire residents shopping for health insurance under the Affordable Care Act.

The health law's second signup season ends February 15th, but Monday is the last day to enroll for coverage that starts January 1st.

As that date nears, insurance company officials are urging consumers to consider all their options given that the number of companies offering health plans has increased from one to five. The number of plans available to individuals also has jumped, from 11 to 40.

The second season of enrollment is now open for the Affordable Care Act’s online insurance marketplaces. Last year’s rollout in New Hampshire was marred by technical flaws and extremely limited choice. We’re finding out what’s in store this time, and how political and court challenges may affect the law’s future.

A new data set gives a bird’s eye view of New Hampshire’s uninsured residents – and how they stand to gain health coverage under the Affordable Care Act.

The data itself is not shocking. State health officials and insurers alike know New Hampshire’s most rural communities have the highest rates of uninsured. But this is the first time that information has been aggregated into a map that viewers can navigate on a county-by-county basis.